Mavis Hallman was sworn in as the newest member of Irricana Town council during the regular meeting April 18 after being the only candidate to step forward on nomination day, April 14. Hallman will fill the position left vacant following the resignation of former mayor Valerie Squires on March 7.
Hallman, who ran for council in the Feb. 11 byelection, said she was happy to see the hard work put forward by council in the past few months had resulted in a positive change for Irricana and was honoured to join a team determined to keep moving in that direction.
“(Council has been) doing their best to address residents’ concerns,” she said. “They’re making a lot of effort to resolve issues that come forward.”
She said she was nervous to sit in on her first meeting on April 18, but added her fellow council members did their best to make her feel like part of the team.
Hallman said she is not going to pretend she knows everything she needs to know about municipal planning, but stressed she did not go into this lightheartedly and is determined to learn and make a real difference in her time on council.
“I want to be doing the best that I can,” Hallman said. “The first part is going to be just learning and I know I have a lot to learn.”
Council positions were also shuffled at the meeting. Former deputy mayor Dennis Tracz accepted the role of mayor and Councillor Frank Friesen accepted the position of deputy mayor.
CAO recruitment
In its search for a permanent chief administrative officer (CAO), Irricana council will hear business proposals from different recruitment services during a special meeting scheduled April 25.
According to Interim CAO Dawn Mosondz, a recruitment service could cost the Town anywhere from $21,000 to $25,000, but noted most services offer a warranty ensuring the Town isn’t on the hook for thousands again if the CAO leaves in a certain time frame.
Councillor Kim Schmaltz, who voted against the motion, said he was concerned with the potential cost to residents from using a recruitment service. He suggested the Town look into less expensive consultant services or hire a CAO on their own.
“I’m just not comfortable with spending that kind of money,” he said. “Times are tough in Alberta.… and I think there’s enough people out there now that we would have better choices to pick.”
Mayor Dennis Tracz said a group specializing in finding CAOs uses experience and knowledge effectively to weed out candidates that don’t measure up faster and more accurately than council could.
Tracz also noted the Town has “been there, done that” with other selection methods that haven’t worked out favourably and argued the recruitment services were at least worth considering.
“I think we’ve learned from a mistake of rushing a decision on this,” Tracz said. “We know from experience that this is an important position.”
